According to EarthDay.org, Earth Day was founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who called for a “national teach-in on the environment” after witnessing the terrible effects of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. The first Earth Day brought major actions to the streets of many major U.S. Cities. For fun, check out this vintage newscast from after that first Earth Day.

Earth Day went global in 1990 and, today, is celebrated in an estimated 192 countries. Which makes today the perfect day to take time to appreciate the land, air, oceans and wildlife that sustain us — and to think about how our lives, both individually and as a group, affect the environment. To that end, here are 12 talks — some reflective, some terrifying, some beautiful, some galvanizing — to watch today.

Charles Moore: Seas of plastic
Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic
We recycle a “diddly-point-squat” percentage of the plastics we use. The result — they end up in the oceans. In this talk from TED2009, Captain Charles Moore shows us the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an endless floating wasteland of plastic. His call to all of us: to stop our throwaway mentality and stop the plastic on land.

This piece originally posted on April 22, 2013 and was resurfaced on April 22, 2015.

]]>http://blog.ted.com/12-talks-to-watch-this-earth-day/feed/26EarthkatetedCan you design a phone that’ll be used longer? A refrigerator that discourages food waste? Play the sustainability card gamehttp://blog.ted.com/play-the-sustainability-card-game/
http://blog.ted.com/play-the-sustainability-card-game/#commentsTue, 11 Feb 2014 17:06:11 +0000http://blog.ted.com/?p=86247[…]]]>

At TED2013, Leyla Acaroglu pondered the question: Paper or plastic? Below, play her sustainability card game. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Leyla Acaroglu aims to make people think about how the choices they make on a daily basis affect the environment. And she aims to make thinking about this fun. In today’s TED Talk, Acaroglu turns her attention to four bits of “environmental folklore,” like the idea that it’s more environmentally sound to opt for the paper bag over the plastic one.
Leyla Acaroglu: Paper beats plastic? How to rethink environmental folklore
By engaging people’s sense of play, Acaroglu and her team at the design consultancy Eco Innovators aim to get individuals and companies looking at the full life cycle of the products in order to make the kind of savvy decisions that can actually effect change.

This week, Eco Innovators held an “E-Waste Autopsy” at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, where passerbys dissected keyboards and computer mice to see what’s inside and think about how the parts could be better designed for recycling. The shop has also created a Mythbusting Sustainability App and, in the spirit of Captain Planet, animated “The Secret Life of Things.” One of Eco Innovators’ latest projects: a card game. These Design Play Cards were created to help people think about how to approach sustainability from a systems-thinking view. The game features three types of cards: purple “design problems” cards, which highlight products that lead to strain on planet Earth; turquoise “design strategy” cards, which offer approaches to rethinking them; and green “design inspiration” cards, which offer solutions that others have tried with great results to further open up brainstorming.

Want to play? Below, Acaroglu has handpicked five sets of cards to get you thinking. Take some time with each purple problem card below and brainstorm: Can you think of a way to tackle the problem, given the strategy and inspiration cards paired with it?

Challenge 1: How can you encourage cell phone users to keep their phones for longer than the usual 15 months before getting a new one?

]]>http://blog.ted.com/play-the-sustainability-card-game/feed/18Design-Card-GamekatetedAt TED2013, Leyla Acaroglu pondered the question: Paper or plastic? Below, play her sustainability card game. Photo: James Duncan DavidsonChallenge 1: How can you encourage cell phone users to keep their phones for longer than 15 months before getting a new one? What kind of system could make discarding phones less of a strain? Challenge 2: What kind of design tweaks could similarly give our laptops a longer life?Challenge 3: Is there a tea kettle tweak that will lead users to only boil what they need?Challenge 4: Could the design of a refrigerator ?Design Play CardsTEDxKraków’s ultimate green driving machinehttp://blog.ted.com/tedxkrakows-ultimate-green-driving-machine/
http://blog.ted.com/tedxkrakows-ultimate-green-driving-machine/#commentsWed, 12 Dec 2012 19:15:02 +0000http://blog.ted.com/?p=66103[…]]]>

At TEDxKraków, participants had an unusual transportation option—a grass-covered van. Created to fit the theme “Secret Lives,” the idea for the van was dreamed up by Kasia Ogińska and was executed by Krystian Meresiński, Piotr Więckowski, Stéphane Perrin, Karolina Perrin, Karolina Bruszko, Konrad Kozakiewicz and a slew of volunteers who wanted to help — even by night and in the rain — to make it fresh and perfect for the event. Those getting a ride in the van made sure to thank the driver, Julek Michalski, who also owns it.